Is FX-6300 still a good gaming CPU in 2015?

[crashtech]

Personally, I think the 6300 is outdated, but the fact remains that if you get a good sample and cool it well, good things can happen, especially if you think of it as a tri-module CPU that can handle six threads. Check out Erenhardt's result in the Cinebench 11.5 thread. For the record, that score beats a stock i5-4430! Of course the clock speed difference is 4.41GHz vs. 3.0 GHz, a full 47% difference.

Building a rig for someone who doesn't understand anything about overclocking is a different story, though. I'd much rather pick something with high ST performance at lower clocks that will make way less heat and therefore need less cooling and be less finicky about poor maintenance. Right now, that need is filled by Intel.

 

[superstition]

What are your guys thoughts on the AMD APU's in this price-range?

Just today while doing some brainstorming the APU's in this price-range crossed my mind. For example the A8-7600, which is also a 65 W part and costs around $90.

Because his monitor only has a measly 1680 x 1050 resolution, I imagine an APU just might be able to handle the games he plays. He plays mainly WoW as a casual, he plays around 3-4 hours after he gets home from work. He also dabbles in "Robocraft" and League of Legends, usually on the weekend.

Then again, even the "lowest of the low" dGPU's outperform AMD's iGPU's. For example R7 250X sells for like $60, and is much faster than current iGPU's. Also the low-end GTX 750 is not much more expensive, at around $80-$90.

Best deal on AMD for gaming (and general use) has been Microcenter 8320E (paired with a good cooler like a 140mm True Spirit) and UD3P motherboard. Unfortunately both the chip and the motherboard went up in price.

APUs are rather pointless, except for consoles and laptops. And, even with laptops, I think it makes more sense to put the hot GPU away from the CPU to make it easier to cool with two larger fans rather than a single fan.

 

[bononos]

What are your guys thoughts on the AMD APU's in this price-range?

Just today while doing some brainstorming the APU's in this price-range crossed my mind. For example the A8-7600, which is also a 65 W part and costs around $90.

Because his monitor only has a measly 1680 x 1050 resolution, I imagine an APU just might be able to handle the games he plays. He plays mainly WoW as a casual, he plays around 3-4 hours after he gets home from work. He also dabbles in "Robocraft" and League of Legends, usually on the weekend.

Then again, even the "lowest of the low" dGPU's outperform AMD's iGPU's. For example R7 250X sells for like $60, and is much faster than current iGPU's. Also the low-end GTX 750 is not much more expensive, at around $80-$90.

The AMD APU was a decent deal pre-Skylake. Now with the Skylake i3 having the HD530 which has better performance vs AMD APUs its no nobrainer for a very light gaming pc. The only gaming advantage of the 6300 is only in a few titles like bf4 in multiplayer while most of the time the i3 is better. And the i3 sucks in less power and puts out less heat.

Initially the APUs were overpriced and was poor value because it was similar in price with an i3+discrete card, and the 260x would clobber it in gaming performance. It was strange of AMD to price it as much as they did at that time.

 

[AtenRa]

The AMD APU was a decent deal pre-Skylake. Now with the Skylake i3 having the HD530 which has better performance vs AMD APUs its no nobrainer for a very light gaming pc.

Where did you see Intel HD530 faster than Kaveri/Godavari ??

What are your guys thoughts on the AMD APU's in this price-range?

The A8-7650K will be a nice alternative. I believe he will be able to play WoW, Robocraft and LoL at 1680x1050 easily.

He can start with the APU only and later add a discrete GPU like a R9 380 or faster if he will start to play more graphically intensive games.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Here is an example of a build that should keep him happy, and in the right price range =

EVGA GeForce GT 740 FTW $44.99 + tax and shipping

AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition CPU Quad Core FM2+ 4Ghz turbo 95W 4MB $59+tax shipped

MSI A68HM-GRENADE FM2+ AMD A68H $53.98 shipped plus has a $5 rebate card.

EVGA 500 W1 80+, 500W Continuous Power, 3 Year Warranty $39.99+tax shipped

Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus - Mid Tower Computer Case with Windowed Side Panel and USB 3.0 $54.99 shipped and has a $15 rebate.

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $39.99 shipped

Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" $53 shipped

LITE-ON DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA$13 shipped

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32/64 bit Full Version SP1$59

Crucial BX100 2.5" 250GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $86 shipped

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $31 shipped

That is around $550 with the $20 in rebates not accounted for. You could halve the SSD size, even cut it out altogether, and added to the rebate cash, you have enough to pick a more expensive CPU and mobo. Many ways to go, but this is a solid build for the money.

You could go for a i3 setup, which would eliminate the need for the aftermarket cooler. You could manage a SSD half the size, but it may go slightly over budget before rebates.

ASRock H97M Anniversary LGA 1150 Intel H97 $62 shipped and $10 rebate

Intel Core i3-4170 $122 shipped

 

[bononos]

Where did you see Intel HD530 faster than Kaveri/Godavari ??
.....

My mistake, I must've looked at the discrete gaming benchmarks. The Kaveri is still much faster in igpu.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Why not just grab something like this for him? http://www.costco.com/HP-Pavilion-550-127c-Desktop-|-AMD-A10-|-Windows-10.product.100223966.html#

Sometimes building just doesn't make sense.

 

[LTC8K6]

Why not just grab something like this for him? http://www.costco.com/HP-Pavilion-550-127c-Desktop-|-AMD-A10-|-Windows-10.product.100223966.html#

Sometimes building just doesn't make sense.

180W power supply sounds dreadful though...

 

[AtenRa]

180W power supply sounds dreadful though...

why ??? A10-7800 is 65W TDP. The entire system will not use more than 100-120W peak.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Then again, even the "lowest of the low" dGPU's outperform AMD's iGPU's. For example R7 250X sells for like $60, and is much faster than current iGPU's. Also the low-end GTX 750 is not much more expensive, at around $80-$90.

Zotac 2GB 750ti is $99.99 @ Newegg right now in their current e-mail sales flyer, and there is an XFX R7 260X 2GB on ebay (BestBuy) for $74.99. I picked up a couple of the latter.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Building a rig for someone who doesn't understand anything about overclocking is a different story, though. I'd much rather pick something with high ST performance at lower clocks that will make way less heat and therefore need less cooling and be less finicky about poor maintenance. Right now, that need is filled by Intel.

Yes, I agree with this whole-heartedly. I sold a friend of mine an OCed (to the max - 3.6Ghz!) Q6600 rig, which was flawless in my hands (and I stressed it plenty - but I kept it clean, and made sure it could "breathe"), but he stuffed it in a *closed* cubby-hole in a desk, and it had nothing but problems.

I sold him another rig, this time with an i3 IB at stock. (It was actually a souped-up OEM pre-built, that I had picked up cheap.)

 

[superstition]

Zotac 2GB 750ti is $99.99 @ Newegg right now in their current e-mail sales flyer, and there is an XFX R7 260X 2GB on ebay (BestBuy) for $74.99. I picked up a couple of the latter.

The 7870 is a better GPU than the 750 Ti if your machine has decent cooling and a decent PSU.

 

[happy medium]

Is FX-6300 still a good gaming CPU in 2015?

It was never a good gaming cpu, was it?


Threadcrapping is not allowed here
Markfw900

 

[crashtech]

"Good" is obviously subjective. Maybe you missed post #26, which shows that an FX-6300 can indeed run the number, when max OC'ed it bests a CPU that is nearly twice as expensive. But it's not for everyone, and not for the scenario outlined in the OP, imo.

 

[Leyawiin]

It was never a good gaming cpu, was it?

When I had an FX-6300 @ 4.5 Ghz I liked my old Phenom II X4 980 BE @ 4.1 Ghz better. Was playing Skyrim almost exclusively at the time and the Phenom performed better and had less hitching/latency.

 

[Arachnotronic]

What are your guys thoughts on the AMD APU's in this price-range?

Just today while doing some brainstorming the APU's in this price-range crossed my mind. For example the A8-7600, which is also a 65 W part and costs around $90.

Because his monitor only has a measly 1680 x 1050 resolution, I imagine an APU just might be able to handle the games he plays. He plays mainly WoW as a casual, he plays around 3-4 hours after he gets home from work. He also dabbles in "Robocraft" and League of Legends, usually on the weekend.

Then again, even the "lowest of the low" dGPU's outperform AMD's iGPU's. For example R7 250X sells for like $60, and is much faster than current iGPU's. Also the low-end GTX 750 is not much more expensive, at around $80-$90.

I would get a cheap Intel CPU + mobo and get a low-end dGPU. Current AMD APUs really are a terrible long-term value proposition even for "casual" users, IMO.

 

[tweakboy]

If you want to keep your CPU then put a 480 GTX in there and your good to go.